Levin loses competition, succeeds as organ donor advocate

Posted September 19, 2016bynews

By Alexa LaVersa, news correspondent

Northeastern senior Josh Levin and 16 other athletes competed in the American Ninja Warrior (ANW) season finale this past week for the chance to win $1,000,000. Levin did not earn the title of American ninja warrior, but he achieved anothergoal bymaking a public statement about the importance of organ donation.

While competing on ANW, Levin wore a bright green bracelet to encourage people to become organ donors, and he often spoke on camera to encourage people to sign up on donatelife.net to register as organ donors.

“If you haveone minute to talk to 8 million people, what would you say? I took that pretty seriously and realized this was an opportunity to promote a very positive and powerful social message,” Levin said.

Levin, a22-year-old mechanical engineering major, emerged victoriousfrom the ANW Los Angeles semifinals in July,earning himself a spot at the final competition in Las Vegas onAug. 28.

In thefour-stage ANW finale, the Sunnyvale, California native finished strong in Stage 1 and was the first athlete to move on to Stage 2.

Stage 1 consists of obstacles that test the agility and speed of competitors,whileStage 2 tests strength and speed. Contestantsmust complete challenges that test their upper-body strength without running out of time.

The Stage 2 course includeda giant ring swing, a salmon ladder – a structure the competitor must climbacross using a movable rung, a wave runner and a wall flip. Despite Levin’s show of skill and physical exertion, helost his grip in the second half of the course and did not progress to Stage 3.

Levin said that he had a good experience on the show in part because of his positive relationship with the other contestants.

“There’s a huge sense of camaraderieand that’s because for us, the focus isn’t on beating each other, it’s on beating the obstacles,” Levin said. “We’re all really in it together.”

While Levin said hetrained for ANW out of his love for competitive climbing, he competed to make a statement about the need for organ donors. He is passionate about this cause because his childhood climbing coach, Stacey Collver,received a double lung transplant in 2004 after being diagnosed with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAN), a rare lung disease.

“Being an organ donor was an easy answer for me, having known Stacey for so many years and knowing what it meant to her to have this anonymous donor give her this second chance at life,” Levin said. “It’s not just one person; you have the opportunity to save up to eight people’s lives by signing up as an organ donor.”

While 95 percent of adults over 18-years-oldin the United States say they support organ donation, only 48 percent are registered as organ donors, according to organdonor.gov.

“There’s all these misconceptions, and I wanted to raise awareness about it and have people think about it.” Levin said. “Maybe people who were already signed up as ‘no’ for one reason or another can see it’s a very easy cause to support, and that they can help people like Stacey just by saying ‘yes’.”

Collver now needs a second lung transplant. According to organdonor.gov, 119,000 Americanslike her are waiting to receive organs.

Charlie Andrews, a senior mathematics major at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology,has trained with Levin for many years andsaid that he respectshis fellow climber’s call for organ donation.

“To call attention to a really important human problem that is going on, that has affected him personally and his loved ones, I think that was really important and really speaks to his character,” Anders said.

Northeastern seniorEvan Goldfinger, whoco-foundedthe Northeastern Climbing teamwith Levin, was on co-op in California when he watched Levin use his national platform.

“Most people either don’t know or don’t have an opinion [about organ donation], so it’s good Josh is bringing awareness to it,” Goldfinger said. “It’s a lot of fun being in the audience, and it was very cool, although very different than watching it on TV.”

Levinrecently finished a co-op with Apple in the springand said he plansto continue participating in local competitions and helping out with the Northeastern climbing team this school year. He is aiming to try out for Season 9 of ANW this spring before graduation.

Levin is now also considering competing in climbing on an even bigger platform –officials are currently discussing adding rock-climbing to the 2020 Olympics.

“It’s been one of my dreams, since I was a little kid, to compete at the Olympic level in rock-climbing,” Levin said.“I’m waiting to see what the actual qualifications are for this before officially announcing that I’m for sure going to try and go for it, but it seems like an awesome opportunity, and it makes sense for me to see if I can go for it.”

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